August 7, 2015

Ladies of the Field: Mini Book Review

Enamored as I am with "lady adventurer" style this summer, I wanted to find out more about the real lady adventurers of history! I came upon this book online and ordered it immediately! I mean seriously, "Early women archaeologists and their search for adventure"! Sign me up!

Author Amanda Adams introduces seven exceptional women; Amelia Edwards, Jane Dieulafoy, Gertrude Bell, Zelia Nuttall, Agatha Christie, Harriet Boyd Hawes, and Dorothy Garrod. Unfortunately, Adams only ever introduces us to these women, each is given a chapter when I would have preferred an entire book on each! The book is enjoyable if a bit light, I was hoping for a bit more of an in depth/academic look at these women, the society they seemed to rebel against, and their work. I would say Ladies of the field is a good book for a brief overview of late Victorian female archaeologists to give you an idea of who you may want to look into more. I know I will be looking for fuller biographys of several of the women briefly profiled in this book.

Though Ladies of the Field didn't quite meet my expectations, I would still recommend it as a good introduction into the subject of early female archaeologists. I would love to know more about some 20th century ladies when archaeology really began to take off and modernize. It is definitely a subject I want to explore further! Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I would love fiction recommendations centering around the same subject as well if you know of any! What have you guys been reading this summer?

4 comments:

Ooohhh, this is going straight on the Amazon wishlist! What a fun sounding book. I have a whole shelf just for female focused history and this would go straight on it. Thank you for the wonderful introduction.

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Hello there! I'm Bianca and here on The Closet Historian I study and recreate vintage fashions-- sketching, pattern drafting, and sewing my way to a vintage inspired wardrobe. I also occasionally attempt knitting, travel as far and wide as I can, and make videos over on YouTube, all while writing a novel on the side.